


fractured

by quoththenightwing



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, this is post S2 so OBVIOUSLY its angsty + has angsty spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 07:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15681027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quoththenightwing/pseuds/quoththenightwing
Summary: young justice one-shot set after a certain red-head speedster's death





	fractured

It had been rare lately, for all six of the original Team to be seen together. Obviously, it wasn't actually possible because, well, Wally wasn't...here. 

But the others... They were scattered around the country, known to the world as masks and justice. They hid in the shadows or leapt across rooftops; they sliced through the skies and dived deep into the great unknown. The fought and saved like they always had, like they always would. But now, it was different. 

They all had their own reasons to become superheroes. It was because they had the power to, or because they needed to lest the darkness running through their veins consume them. It was because they were raised that way, because they learnt well before they should have that the world was cruel (too cruel) and unrelenting. It was because they wanted to save the world. 

But that was before. Before everything. Before Wally and Artemis retired and the lives of all these new starry-eyed kids with fight in their grins weighed on the rest's shoulders; before Kaldur left to fight against them; before Artemis came back and died then came back again; before Wally came back and died and never came back again. 

Before seemed like a lifetime ago. Before, it was laughter and teasing glances; it was knowing nudges and playful punches; it was placing bets on who would win during a training session and endlessly making fun of Wally; it was M'Gann's cookies and Wally's souvenirs and Dick's made-up words; it was psychic conversations on missions and off-missions to talk behind the adults' backs; it was patching each other up in the bioship after a mission, exchanging weary smiles full of triumph; it was the beach at Happy Harbor and the Cave. 

The were bursting with hope once, when what mattered most was each other and they couldn't wait to grow up. 

Now...

No one would say it out loud, but there was an empty space where Wally used to be. It hung over them like a heavy veil. Sometimes they would forget, like when Dick turned to his side to tell an inside joke that no one but a certain speedster could get, and the others would watch his face fall as he remembered he’s not there anymore; or when after an especially terrible nightmare, Artemis would reach out beside her only to grasp air and the remnants of him. 

Sometimes they would forget, then the realization that _oh god he’s dead he’s gone he’s never coming back_ would hit them so hard, they couldn’t do anything else but mourn. It was especially bad for Dick and Artemis, because they were the people he loved the most, then M’Gann, because she felt deeply and he was always a brother to her, then Kaldur and Conner, because he welcomed them with open arms and a grin when they first stepped into the unfamiliar world and helped them make it their home. No doubt, it was bad for all of them - even _the_ Superboy who was notorious for being unfeeling and moody - because Wally was one of them once; because they were family. 

Family. Now that was an interesting word. Being a superhero and having a happy family were often not mutually exclusive. Artemis’ family was a mess, M’Gann lost contact with hers and never intended to go back, Dick’s was complicated, Kaldur left his parents in Atlantis and his real villain dad, and Conner didn’t have a family. The only one of them who perhaps had the best familial situation was Wally; he had loving parents and an uncle who doubled as his superhero mentor. So when they found each other and stuck together, Wally was the one who showed them how to be a family. He made sure that no one was left out and everyone was cared for; he brought so much love and light and laughter, it was no surprise that after he was gone, nothing was the same.

After that day, their family - their small, little family - was fractured. Broken. It could never go back to what it was, and they knew that. 

But sometimes, in really rare moments when Artemis, M’Gann, Dick, Kaldur, and Conner were gathered together, you could see the bond between them that grew even stronger after Wally’s death. He may be the one who planted the seeds and nurtured it, but they knew to make it grow. You could see it in their looks (how they didn’t need any psychic links to read each other’s minds), in their touches, in their words. 

Yes, they were fractured. Yes, they weren’t the same. But they were still surviving, still coping, and they were doing just fine.


End file.
